The Roman Catholic church and anti-abortion groups were jubilant yesterday after a Sicilian court overturned a doctor's decision to terminate the pregnancy of a 13-year-old girl with learning disabilities.

"Laura's" parents said she had the mental age of a six-year-old and could not tell the difference between a baby and a doll. They pleaded for her to be allowed to have an abortion. The father of the baby is her 14-year-old boyfriend, who also has learning disabilities.

Pro-choice groups accused the court of caving in to pressure from activists who breached privacy laws by campaigning for the pregnancy to go to term.

Laura was removed from her home in Pozzallo in southern Sicily two weeks ago when her pregnancy was discovered. Ignazio Ruffino, a family doctor appointed as guardian by a children's court, said Laura did not understand what was happening to her and recommended an abortion.

But the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano led a backlash by branding the recommendation a Nazi-like atrocity. The children's court passed the case to another court to decide.